Nola Kelsey

Finding Home: Where Voluntourism and Relocation Collide

There is an old saying you likely have heard before: You can’t go home again. I for one have always taken this to mean that once you explore the outside world you outgrow your home. An expanded mind no longer fits comfortably back into the world from whic... Read >

Coping with Thailand's Tightened Visa Regulations

It is the end of an era in Thailand. Political changes occur rapidly in SE Asia. Nowhere is that more evident than inside the Land of Smiles. In the wake of the John Karr / JonBenet Ramsey fiasco, Thailand has tightened restrictions on Tourism Visas and s... Read >

Thailand's Yellow-Ribbon Coup

Do not adjust the color on your television. There are no smudges on your screen. What you saw on the news was not an illusion. When the Thai Military stages a coup, they do it with style and panache. It's true! Their colorful fashion sense may actually... Read >

Thailand's Unrest: Packing Strategies for the Coup Near You

A funny thing happened on the way to my closet. This unforgettable journey from my shower confirmed an age old theory: a lot can happen in fifteen feet. One night earlier I'd switched on the news to see civil unrest in Budapest, Hungary. My sister Aug... Read >

Field Notes on Country Linguistics

As Suzy stammered, my ears perked up. For distraction I called out, "Hey Kathy, put on another pot of coffee." Suzy spoke again. The fact is, gouging my own eyes out with a ketchup bottle would not have distracted me. A linguistic calamity was eminent. ... Read >

Country Lawn Maintenance - 10 Tips to Know Before You Mow

Practical survival skills should be fifty percent of what we study in school! Languishing twelve to sixteen years in the bowels of our education system should not leave American citizens unprepared to cope with perpetually running toilets. A burned out ta... Read >

Rural Relocation – Considerations and Adjustments

So you're thinking about going country? It's time to abandon the frenzy of city life, drop the 'G' from the end of your verbs and trade your Gucci for goats. You long to be in a place where business is done on a handshake, where your backyard is bountiful... Read >

Chicken Rearing 101 - How Not to Raise chickens

Chick: A hatchling Capon: A castrated male used for meat. (How much could that yield?) Pullet: A female chicken under one year old. Hen: A female chicken over one year of age Rooster: A male chicken over one year of age. Raising Chickens ... Read >

Milk Goats: Know Thy Enemy

Patience may be a virtue, but laughter is the only way to survive goat milking. You can strive for the perfect fencing. You must aim for good nutrition. But, don't kid yourself. When it comes to milking, you do not get the last word. When I decided to... Read >

The Perks of Global Warming

Marya Mannes once wrote, "The earth we abuse and the living things we kill will, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future." Obviously Ms. Mannes preferred the status quo - health, sanity, logic, blah, ... Read >

Serengeti Safari - Memories and Miscommunications

The scene before me could be matched nowhere else on earth. Parched yellow grass spread out before us as far as the eye could see - broken only by the occasional umbrella tree and a few hundred thousand migrating wildebeest forming a dusty, thin gray... Read >